A Knight Without Armor…

Kassie wrapped up her day at work and hurried to her truck… She sped off eager to get home so she could take care of some personal issues… As she was driving towards home, she felt that the truck rode a bit differently… She finally got onto Cuba Hill Road and realized one of her tires must be going flat… Even though she was now only a few blocks from home, she felt the urge to check… She was impetuous that way… Kassie impatiently pulled over to the side… When she stopped, there was a tree directly in front of her and one to the side… She got out to check… As she suspected, her rear left tire was pretty much on its way to being a pancake…!!! 😊

Now, she was fuming… What else had this day in store for her… As she kicked that forlorn tire in disgust, she noticed a black SUV approach her truck slowly… Ahhh, she thought, someone to help me change my tire… As she looked hopefully in that direction, 4 doors opened almost simultaneously and from each popped a black garbed man with a scimitar in his hand… The one from behind the wheel was quite tall and Kassie recognized him as the “coffee lecher”…!!! 😊

Kassie screamed in a panic and bolted for the open door of her truck…!!! 🙂

Alex was doing his regular shopping at the organic poultry and vegetable farm on Cuba Hill Rd where he bought most of his organic produce… Besides his usual fresh fruits and vegetables, he needed to restock on couscous, chick peas, a variety of beans, and his favorite, angel hair pasta… He also picked up a couple of bags of sustainably caught frozen shrimp… One of his favorite quick go-to meals was garlic and oil, button mushrooms, hot peppers and shrimp poured over ‘al dente’ angel hair pasta…!!! Now he made sure he had all the ingredients…!!! 😊

Alex paid the bill and loaded up his mini truck… He drove out of the parking lot and onto the street and made it to the corner just in time to catch the red light… He stopped, his foot steady on the brake… His mind began to wander… His eyes caught a commotion as he heard a panicked scream about a block down the road… On the opposite side of the road, a girl was running into a car… There were 4 men dressed in ISIS black garb boldly brandishing scimitars in broad daylight advancing towards the truck she was in…!!! They surrounded the car making sure she could not escape…!!! 😊)

Ignoring the red light, Alex gunned his engine muttering under his breath, “This is a good day to die!” He pulled over several yards from them… Alex got out and pulled back the covering tarp and retrieved his home made shield, sword and spear… He faced in the direction of his soon to be opponents who thus far had ignored him… After all, there were 4 of them, what did they have to fear…??? To gain their attention, he banged his spear on his shield similar to the way the warriors of old would do… Boom, Boom, Bam… Boom, Boom, Bam… Boom, Boom, Bam… It was the background beat of “We Will Rock You” by Queen… Alex always had background music going on in his head… It lifted his spirits… And he would need all the spirit he could muster with this fight… And, if he survived, he was sure that “We Are The Champions” would next resound in his head…!!! Alex got their attention… They gathered and lined up together 4 abreast…!!! The tall lanky one was on the left side of the line…!!! 😊

That’s just what Alex wanted… This was going to be a reenactment of Alexander the Great’s most famous battle where he was outnumbered by the Persians 4 to 1 in the battle of Arbela (now called the Gaugamela)…!!! Alex was going to use similar infantry and cavalry tactics…!!! 😊)

Alex raised his shield to cover his face just below his eyes… This would give him a more ominous appearance… He foolishly hoped to strike fear in their hearts… They seemed to be unfazed by this move… He positioned his spear at the horizontal pointing it towards the tall one… He marched slowly and purposely in that direction fixing his gaze on the tall one… His opponents waited for him to come to them while menacing with their scimitars… 😊

Alex marched straight towards the opponent on the left of the line, shield raised and knife end of his spear pointing dead ahead… This was his infantry move to hold them in place… But, he carefully had to judge distance… Those scimitars could slice thru his spear, not to mention him… When he was about arms length from his immediate opponent, he feinted a jab, then immediately raised his spear as if to bring it crashing down on his opponent… His opponent raised his sword as if to parry that expected blow… At the last moment, Alex pivoted on his left foot, spinning around while lowering his spear, leveling it horizontally to shoulder height, causing a helicopter rotor effect… The knife end of the spear smashed hard into the head of the next to last man on the right side of the line… That man went down quickly… Alex had used his opponent’s weight against his spear to regain his balance and now moved quickly towards the man on the extreme right… That man had been temporarily stunned by the action but now raised his scimitar to deliver a slicing blow… Alex closed the distance between them with a lightening move using his shield to block his opponent’s sword arm while making body to body contact, affording his opponent no maneuverability… Simultaneously, Alex had raised his spear arm, and brought the fire hardened sharp end of the back of the spear down like a dagger into his face, plunging right through his opponent’s left eye…!!! The anguished, curdling screams only lasted a few moments…!!! 😊

Alex wrested the spear away from his fallen opponent… He brought the spear back to the horizontal before him… The lightening cavalry having done its work, he reverted back to being infantry… He feinted jabs and kept circling to his left, their right, making it more awkward for them to swing at him… He kept maneuvering and circling always jabbing out with his spear but keeping away from their swings… 😊

He raised his spear arm again… They expected another pivot… He didn’t… His arm swung in a downward arc as he moved to his right and he landed a severe blow to the closest opponent’s leg… Momentarily immobilized, that man let his guard down… That was all the opening that Alex needed… Like Achilles when he dispatched Hector in the Trojan War, Alex drove his spear into his opponent’s throat severing his jugular… Blood squirted all over as the body collapsed… The spear point had gone so far in, it took an effort for Alex to retrieve his weapon… The tall, lanky remaining opponent, realizing he was now one on one with someone who had just taken out 3 of his men dashed for his SUV… He had left the engine running as he always did as a precaution for quick escapes… He backed up down the street as quickly as his car would take him… 😊

Alex looked around, shield and spear at the ready… But no one was on his feet to challenge him… And now as he took in a deep breath, slowly but surely, “We Are The Champions” started playing in his head… He went towards the truck where the girl had locked herself in… He knocked on the window and signaled for her to roll it down… “Are you ok?” he asked… Still out of breath from his efforts, he now caught his breath as he saw that beautiful face and drowned in those liquid green eyes… She looked down upon him from her perch, looked at the bloody bodies on the ground, then looked at his vehicle and blurted, “You can do all that and you drive around in that wimpy, girly mini truck?” With a wry smile on his face, Alex bowed ever so slightly and replied, “You’re quite welcome your Grace!”, with the theme song from ‘Game of Thrones’ suddenly blaring in his head…!!! 😊